Finish Line
by Anne Packrat
Summary: After an accident lands Hitomi in the hospital, Yukari stands vigil by her bedside.


[Escaflowne is owned by Sunrise and available through Animevillage.com. I  
don't own them and didn't create them. "She's going the distance... she's going  
for speed...."]  
  
Note: This takes place after the end of the series, but is not associated with  
Escaflowne: Leavetakings.  
  
  
  
There hadn't been any time to be upset. I'd been busy trying to get  
Hitomi settled and contact her family, but they weren't responding.   
I know it's not right, but I'm almost glad I couldn't reach them. I mean,  
how am I supposed to tell the Kanzakis that their only daughter had been  
hit by a car?  
  
  
  
---Finish Line-----------|---  
----An Escaflowne Tale---|---  
-----by Anne Packrat-----|---  
  
  
  
It had happened so suddenly. We were crossing the street to get to a  
restaurant. I'd ran ahead and turned around, planning on teasing Hitomi   
about how slow she was for a track star, when out of the corner of my eye  
I saw the car running the red light. I got out half a scream before a   
sickening thud (followed by a crack) signaled it was too late. The impact  
flung her towards me, and she landed in a tangled heap. I cried out and  
rushed to her side. She was bleeding heavily and her limbs splayed out at  
odd angles. The bastard that collided with her didn't even slow down. I'm   
not sure if he even knew he'd hit Hitomi.  
  
What followed is now just a vague blur. I remember ordering someone to  
call for an ambulance and cradling Hitomi's head all the way to the emergency  
room. I got the necessary paperwork to get her admitted, tried her family and  
relatives three or four times, but without getting any response. (Don't ask me   
how I was so calm. I'm not sure myself.) Since I couldn't reach any true family   
I lied and said I was her younger sister, Yukari Kanzaki. They wouldn't let me  
stay with her otherwise, and god-be-damned if anyone thinks I'd leave her   
alone.   
  
So that's how it came to this. I was sitting a silent vigil over Hitomi.   
They- that is the doctors said, that she would probably not last the night.   
Her injuries were that severe. She slept now, her wounds bandaged and her arms in   
casts. She hadn't woken up once. I spent the first few hours of my watch crying,   
and the next two praying. Finally, near dawn I was reduced to waiting, and   
remembering.  
  
-------  
  
I first met Hitomi in middle school when we were in the same homeroom. We  
were inseparable all throughout high school until our sophomore year when she  
joined the track team. I had already been manager of it for a year now and had  
developed a crush on Amano-sempai, the star of the boys team. However, I was  
always too shy to say anything, and when it became obvious that Hitomi felt the  
same way about him, I buried my crush and did my best to support her in her  
pursuit of him. Things between the two of them had been going well until I had  
to tell Hitomi that Amano would be leaving the country the next year. She took it  
better than I expected, and that night she boldly challenged him. If she beat her  
best time in the 100-yard-dash he would be her first kiss. Then things started  
getting weird.  
  
In the middle of her run, a pillar of light shot from the heavens. A strange  
boy in armor appeared and fought a dragon. When we tried to talk to the boy he  
answered only in gibberish, but for some reason Hitomi seemed to understand   
him. Hitomi's foresight allowed the boy to defeat the dragon, but she dissa-  
peared with the boy when the column of light reformed and returned from whence  
it came. Hitomi was gone for weeks, and Amano and I were worried sick.  
  
At least, that's what I *thought* happened at first. But now I seem to   
remember that Hitomi finished the race, but had not been able to beat her time  
and earn the kiss. The night with the boy and dragon was just some eerie dream.  
But why does the dream feel more right than what my memory tells me?  
  
After that night, Hitomi was almost a different person. She'd given up fortune-  
telling, and was trying even harder on her schoolwork. However, when she  
wasn't running or studying she seemed... distant, and sad. I often caught her   
smiling at air. Occasionally I even caught her *talking* to air. I would  
have been worried about her sanity, but with my murky memory who was I to say  
what was normal? Besides, it was only during those times that she seemed to  
be genuinely happy, almost like her old self.  
  
As for the track team, well, she soon became one of our best sprinters. She  
won nearly every race she ran. Our coach joked that it was as if she almost   
didn't touch the ground, like she had wings. Personally I agree with Amano's   
assesment of her new found passion. He'd came back to visit and managed to  
catch one of our matches.   
  
After Hitomi had won yet again, he remarked, "You know, before she always   
seemed to be running away, but now it's as if she's running toward something, or  
someone...."   
  
Over the past month she seemed to be more anxious and depressed. Her grades  
started slipping and she seemed to be less in touch with the world around her.   
However, her times continued to improve as she ran faster. Maybe... maybe her  
goal was coming within reach...  
  
---------  
  
I must have dozed off because the cold, grey light of predawn woke me. I  
checked Hitomi and found her hand was cold. I stood up hurriedly and searched  
around for a call button, a beeper, anything to get a doctor here and save my friend!  
A brief, blinding light tore into the room and caused me to cease my frantic   
scrabble until it faded and my vision cleared. I looked up and what I saw shocked  
me.  
  
Now, I'm not Christian and I've never even been that religious, but I swear that  
the figure before me was an angel! It was a boy wearing a rumpled red shirt and  
brown pants. In one hand he held a glowing pink crystal and around his neck he  
had Hitomi's pendant, the end of it clutched in his other hand. His wings were pure  
white and extended from his shoulder blades into a graceful arc. With a start, I   
realized he was the boy from my dream of that night so long ago. This was the  
boy that Hitomi had dissappeared with!  
  
Giving me no notice, he approached the bed and caressed Hitomi's hair. It  
was a gentle touch, one born of love, obvious even to me. As he continued down  
to touch her cheek, Hitomi stirred and eventually focused on the winged boy. Her  
eyes went wide in surprise and shock. "Van...?" she asked softly. The boy nodded   
and picked her up carefully. Recovering from her earlier surprise, Hitomi threw   
her arms around him and hugged him with a strength an accident victim shouldn't  
have had.  
  
I glanced at the bed and started when I saw that Hitomi's body was still lying  
there as it had for the last few hours. I looked back at the couple and then back  
at the bed. Yes, they both were my friend, but, how could this be?  
  
A featherlight touch on my shoulder broke my reverie. Van (as I assumed was  
the boy's name) had put Hitomi down and she was the one who touched me. I   
examined the Hitomi in front of me, just now noticing that she seemed somehow  
indistinct and almost translucent, but her touch was warm.   
  
"Yukari?" Hitomi said, her voice far away, "Thank you... I'm afraid I have to  
go. There's...." She glanced at Van, and he nodded encouragingly, "There's   
someplace else I need to be...." She hugged me then, her touch light yet comforting.  
She let me go and I glanced back at the body on the bed. Now merely an empty shell,  
its face looked... almost peaceful.  
  
The light in the room intensified and I brought my attention back to Van and my  
friend. Hitomi took the crystal in her hand and Van embraced her. Hitomi raised the  
crystal and the light intensified. "Goodbye!" she said before giving me a triumphant  
smile. The light flared to its earlier intensity and then retreated giving back the  
room to the dawn light filtering through the window. When my vision cleared, they  
were gone and I was alone.   
  
Finally, Hitomi has reached her finish line.   
  
-------------  
  
Thanks to my friends.  
Thanks to Sunrise and the creators of the series.  
Thanks to Joseph for prereading.  
Thanks to Miichan for love and support.  
Thanks to Wil for starting the idea of TCES.  
Thanks to Monkey for starting me on Escaflowne.  
Thank you for reading.  
  
--Anne Packrat (annepackrat@hotmail.com) December 16, 1998  
  
  



End file.
